Determination of parameter values of an uplink transport channel

ABSTRACT

A method and a network element for determining cell-based values of a parameter of a selected active uplink transport channel multiplexed with other transport channels to a dedicated physical channel. It is proposed that a value for the parameter of the selected uplink transport channel is computed in predetermined periods of time based on the value of at least one available parameter associated to the dedicated physical channel. Further it is determined for the predetermined periods of time for each of the transport channels whether it is active in the respective period of time. Those periods of time for which it was determined that any other than the selected transport channel was active are excluded from supplying a relevant value for the parameter of the selected active uplink transport channel.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for determining cell based valuesvarying in time of a parameter associated to a selected active uplinktransport channel multiplexed with at least one other transport channelto a dedicated physical channel. The invention equally relates to acorresponding network element, communications network and communicationssystem.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known to multiplex several uplink transport channels onto adedicated physical channel for transmission in order to enable aneffective use of available resources.

The technical specification 3GPP TS 25.211 V3.7.0: “3rd GenerationPartnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network;Physical channels and mapping of transport channels onto physicalchannels (FDD) (Release 1999)” describes for example a multiplexing ofLayer 1 transport channels onto physicals channels in the FDD (frequencydivision duplex) mode of the universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS) terrestrial radio access (UTRA).

According to this specification, a transport channel (TrCH) is definedby how and with what characteristics data is transferred over the airinterface. Dedicated transport channels are referred to by dedicatedchannel (DCH). Physical channels are furthermore defined by a specificcarrier frequency, a channelization code and, on the uplink, a relativephase.

During an Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection several TrCHs may bemultiplexed in the uplink by a terminal onto one code compositetransport channel (CCTrCH), which is subsequently mapped to the datapart of a dedicated physical channel (DPCH). This is illustrated by FIG.1, which corresponds to a figure in the Technical Specification 3GPP TS25.212 V3.4.0: “3rd Generation Partnership Project; TechnicalSpecification Group Radio Access Network; Multiplexing and channelcoding (FDD) (Release 1999)”.

As shown in FIG. 1, data provided by the MAC (Medium Access Control) andhigher layers arrives at the coding/multiplexing unit 11 in form of atransport block sets on a transport channel TrCH#1 once everytransmission time interval (TTI). The TTI is transport channel specificand can take one of the values 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms and 80 ms. First,different processing steps are applied to the transport block sets ofeach transport channel TrCH#1 separately, beginning with adding cyclicredundancy check (CRC) bits to each block 12 and terminating with ratematching 13. The processing steps applied to different transportchannels are indicated in FIG. 1 by rectangles 14 grouping these steps.Afterwards, different TrCHs are multiplexed to a single CCTrCH 15. TheCCTrCH is mapped after further processing onto a physical channel PhCH#116. The physical channel then undergoes spreading, scrambling andmodulation. In case of multicode, the same applies to the other physicalchannels, denoted PhCH#2 etc. in the figure. For the details of theprocessing steps, which are depicted in FIG. 1 for one transport channelTrCH#1 and for the CCTrCH, it is referred to the cited specification TS25.212.

The DPCH onto which the CCTrCHs is mapped consists of a dedicatedphysical control channel (DPCCH) and one or more dedicated physical datachannels (DPDCH). The DPDCHs comprise the user data of the TrCHs. Forthe different DPDCHs different spreading codes are used, which enables asimultaneous WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access)transmission. The DPCCH comprises predefined pilot bits to supportchannel estimation for coherent detection, transmit power control (TPC)commands and a transport format combination indicator (TFCI). DPCCH andDPDCHs are I/Q multiplexed within each radio frame with complexscrambling.

In the uplink, the multi-code operation is possible, if the bit rate ofthe CCTrCH exceeds the maximum bit-rate of the uplink DPDCH and themaximum allowed amount of puncturing has already been applied. In thiscase, a spreading factor (SF) equal to 4 has then to be used for thedifferent codes and up to 6 parallel DPDCHs can be used, while only oneDPCCH per connection is possible.

When the connection is set up, the terminal is given the minimum allowedSF of the uplink channelisation code for the data part and the variablerate is handled in a dynamic rate matching by changing the DPDCH bitrate (SF) frame by frame or by repeating or puncturing the code bits toachieve the total physical channel bit rate. In the uplink directionrepetition is preferred. Puncturing is used to avoid multicodetransmission or when facing the limitations of the User equipmenttransmitter or Node B receiver.

The relative power level is set such that for higher bit rates the powerof the DPCCH is higher, thus enabling a more accurate channelestimation, and the overhead, i.e. DPDCH vs. DPCCH power, of the DPCCHis still lower.

Since several TrCHs may be multiplexed onto one CCTrCH, and since thequality, and in particular the Eb/No (bit energy per noise interference)requirements can be different in each transport channel, a rate-matchingattribute is introduced for each TrCH, which is used in balancing theEb/No values of the radio connection for a static or service specificrate matching.

According to the specification TS 25.212, higher layers assign arate-matching attribute for each transport channel. The rate-matchingattribute is used to calculate a rate matching value when multiplexingseveral TrCHs for the same frame. The attribute is semi-static and canonly be changed through higher layer signaling. By adjusting therate-matching attribute, an admission control (AC) is thus able tofine-tune the quality of different bearer services in order to reach anequal or near equal symbol power level requirement. Success of thestatic rate matching depends on, e.g., how correct the Eb/No value is inrespect to the quality—e.g. BLER—target.

With the aid of the rate matching attribute and the TFCI of the DPCCH,the receiver can calculate backwards the rate matching parameters usedand perform the inverse operation.

Static and dynamic rate matchings 13 are done simultaneously, they arealso indicated in FIG. 1.

Neither the Eb/No nor the quality of any TrCH set up during the same RRCconnection is available from the conventional implementations.

In order to overcome the effect of the possible incomplete static ratematching in the measured quantities, it would be an advantage, if uplinkconnection based measurements could be carried out for each bearerservice or TrCH multiplexed onto one CCTrCH.

Eb/No is also in general a key figure for receiver performance and canbe employed for a variety of functions, as well in controlling as inevaluation. Moreover, other parameters associated to specific TrCHs, inparticular quality parameters like BER (Bit Error Rate) and/or BLER(Block Error Rate), can be of interest, which parameters are onlyavailable for entire DPCHs in the current implementations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to enable the determination of cellbased values for a parameter associated to a selected transport channelmultiplexed with other transport channels to a dedicated physicalchannel.

The object is reached on the one hand with a method for determining cellbased values varying in time of at least one parameter of a selectedactive uplink transport channel multiplexed with other transportchannels to dedicated physical channel. The method comprises at a unitreceiving the uplink transport channels computing in predeterminedperiods of time a value for the at least one parameter of the selecteduplink transport channel based on at least one available parameterassociated to the dedicated physical channel. The at least one availableparameter is influenced by signals transmitted on all active transportchannels multiplexed to the dedicated physical channel. Moreover, it isdetermined for the predetermined periods of time for each of thetransport channels whether it is active in the respective period oftime. Those periods of time for which it was determined that any otherthan the selected transport channel was active is excluded fromsupplying a relevant value for the at least one parameter of theselected active uplink transport channel.

On the other hand, the object is reached with a network element for acommunications network comprising means for determining cell basedvalues varying in time of at least one parameter of a selected activeuplink transport channel multiplexed with other transport channels to adedicated physical channel according to the proposed method. The objectis equally reached with a communications network and with acommunications system comprising such a network element.

The invention proceeds from the idea that even if several transportchannels are multiplexed to a dedicated physical channel, only therespective active transport channels are able to influence a parameterwhich is determined for the entire dedicated physical channel. Inactivetransport channels are in particular transport channels currently usedfor downlink transmissions. Therefore it is proposed to control theactivity of all transport channels multiplexed to the considereddedicated physical channel. Thereby, it is known for respective periodsof time if available parameter values associated to the dedicatedphysical channel are only influenced by a selected one of the transportchannels. Only these parameter values are then accepted as basis fordetermining the desired transport channel specific parameter values.This means, in case other transport channels than the selected transportchannel were active during a period of time, transport channel specificparameter values are either not determined in the first place for thisperiod, or transport channel specific parameter values are determinedbut then discarded.

The invention thus allows uplink connection based measurements for eachbearer service multiplexed onto dedicated physical channel.

Preferred embodiments of the invention become apparent from thesubclaims.

The at least one parameter of an active first uplink transport channelcan comprise in particular the Eb/No, the BLER or FER (Frame Error Rate)if TTI=10 ms, and/or the BER of the selected active uplink transportchannel. In the determination of these transport channel specific valuesthe effect of possible incomplete static rate matching can be overcome.

For determining Eb/No values, preferably a target SIR is used as atleast one available parameter associated to the dedicated physicalchannel. This target SIR can be determined proceeding from apredetermined value and be changed according to requests for each of theuplink transport channels multiplexed to the dedicated physical channel.

The BLER of a selected TrCH mapped onto a dedicated physical channel towhich a plurality of transport channels are multiplexed can becalculated in particular from the number of CRCs comprising an error putinto relation to the total number of CRCs in one period of time.

The BER of a selected TrCH mapped onto a dedicated physical channel towhich a plurality of transport channels are multiplexed can becalculated in particular based on the average Quality Estimate (QE) inone period of time.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the values for the at leastone parameter are determined separately for each of the uplink transportchannels multiplexed to the dedicated physical channel.

The respective values channel can be determined in particular for eachdesired parameter and each desired transport channel as average valuesin each period of time. In addition, the respective values of the atleast one parameter can be subjected to a sliding average within apredetermined sliding window.

Advantageously, the determined values for the at least one parameter arestored in a data base, so they are available for further use.

The transport channels can be multiplexed to a CCTrCH that is mapped toa single DPDCH of a DPCH. The invention can also be employed in case ofmulticode transmissions, i.e. when the CCTrCH is mapped onto severalDPDCHs of said DPCH. As mentioned above, there may be zero, one, orseveral uplink DPDCHs on each DPCH, but there is always exactly oneuplink DPCCH.

If the invention is employed for UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio AccessNetwork), the at least one parameter of an active first uplink transportchannel is advantageously determined in an uplink outer loop powercontrol controller of a radio network controller (RNC) of the UTRAN. Theactivity of each transport channel mapped onto dedicated physicalchannel can further be controlled in a dedicated uplink outer loop powercontrol entity of such an RNC. The uplink outer loop power controlentities can then provide for each of the periods of time an indicationwhether the respective transport channel was active during this periodof time to the uplink outer loop power control controller.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, cell based values of atleast one parameter of respective selected active uplink transportchannels are determined cell by cell for a selected group of cells, inparticular for cells involved in a diversity handover. For each cell,the values are determined in the unit receiving the respective uplinktransport channel. A central unit, e.g. a mobile connection control(MCC) unit, is used for controlling said cell by cell determination ofcell based values in various receiving units. This central unit canmoreover collect all determined cell based values. The invention thusallows cell by cell uplink connection based measurements for each bearerservice multiplexed onto dedicated physical channel.

Values of parameters determined according to the invention can beemployed for a variety of purposes. Eb/No values determined according tothe invention can be employed for instance for uplink connections basedperformance analysis and the implementation of other features, likeuplink outer loop power control statistics, auto-tuning of uplink Eb/No,RAN trace etc. Further examples of an application of the invention areradio resource management, radio network dimensioning, radio networkplanning, radio network management and troubleshooting.

The invention can be employed advantageously, though not exclusively,for WCDMA, in particular UTRA FDD.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the following, the invention is explained in more detail withreference to drawings, of which

FIG. 1 illustrates uplink transport channel encoding and multiplexing;

FIG. 2 shows a logical architecture of an uplink outer loop PC algorithmemployed in an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional uplink power control algorithm; and

FIG. 4 illustrates the influence of other DCHs on the Eb/No measurementsfor one DCH.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the invention will be presented, in which Eb/No, BERand/or BLER values of selected uplink transport channels are determined,which uplink transport channels are mapped to a dedicated physicalchannel as described above with reference to FIG. 1. The physicalchannels are employed in this embodiment in a telecommunications systemfor transmissions between terminals and a WCDMA node B of an UTRAN. Theembodiment proceeds from a conventional outer loop power control in anUTRAN RNC for determining the desired parameter values.

FIG. 2 shows elements of the UTRAN involved in determining the parametervalues. A WCDMA node B 21 enables on the one hand a radio connection ofthe UTRAN to terminals (not shown). On the other hand, it is connectedto an RNC 22 of the UTRAN. Part of this RNC 22 is a conventional logicalarchitecture of an uplink outer loop PC algorithm, which is illustratedin FIG. 2.

In the RNC 22, a macro diversity combiner (MDC) 23 is provided for eachbearer service within a single RRC connection. The MDCs 23 enables theconnection of the node B 21 with the RNC 22 via an Iub interface. EachMDC 23 is moreover connected within the RNC 22 with a dedicated uplinkouter loop power control (OLPC) entity 24 provided for the same datachannel as the respective MDC 23. The OLPC entities 24 are furtherbi-directionally connected to an uplink (OLPC) controller 25 providedfor one RRC connection. This OLPC controller 25 receives in additioninput from a load control LC function 26 and from an admission controlAC function 27. The AC 27 has in addition a direct access to the node B21.

At the setup of the radio access bearer RAB, the AC 27 computes aninitial target SIR after rate-matching when multiplexing several TrCHsfor the same frame. The AC 27 provides the node B 21 directly with thiscomputed initial SIR target value for transmission to the respectiveterminal. Additionally, the AC 27 provides the uplink OLPC controller 25with the initial target SIR and with other configuration parameters. Apart of these parameters is then forwarded by the OLPC controller 25 tothe OLPC entities 24.

The MDCs 23 receive uplink quality information from the node B 21 andcombine the incoming data from different SHO (soft handover) branches ina selection and combining procedure. Each uplink OLPC entity 24 thenreceives the processed uplink quality information from the associatedMDC 23. This quality information includes, depending on the type of theradio bearer, either a BLER estimate computed in the MDCs 23 based onthe CRC-bits of the selected frame, and/or a BER estimate calculated inthe WCDMA node B 21. If the CRC is not correct (NOK), the respective MDC23 selects the best one of the BER estimates. Each OLPC entity 24calculates for the respective channel a required change in the targetSIR according to the received uplink quality information and providesthe calculated required change to the OLPC controller 25 up to once eachTTI. Equally provided to the OLPC controller 25 is an activity reportfor each reporting periods. The extend of a reporting period is providedas one of the parameters from the AC 27 via the OLPC controller 25.

Based on the current target SIR and the different change requests, theOLPC controller 25 computes a new target SIR. The new target SIR isreported together with PC parameters to the OLPC entities 24. One of theentities 24, in particular an entity assigned to a signaling link or toa dedicated control channel DCCH, is selected to transmit the new targetSIR via the respective MDC 23 to the node B 21. For interactions betweenthe RNC 22 and the node B 21, the DCH frame protocol is used.

FIG. 3 illustrates in more detail an algorithm that can be used by OLPCcontroller 25 and OLPC entities 24 for determining a new target SIR.First ellipses 34 indicate the calculations carried out by the OLPCentities 24, and a second ellipse 35 indicates the calculations carriedout by the OLPC controller 25.

Each active or semi active OLPC entity 23 may contribute with a changerequest to the new SIR target computation in any TTI, provided that therequested change is greater than 0.1 dB. The respective desired change Δis calculated either based on a BLER or a BER estimate provided by therespective MDC 23. When based on a BLER estimate, the desired change iscalculated as the difference between the received BLER estimate and atarget BLER, multiplied by a step size. The BLER estimate is calculatedas the quotient of the number of CRCs which are not OK (CRC NOK) and thesum of the CRCs which are OK (CRC OK) and of the CRCs which are not OK,which sum corresponds to the number of transport blocks on a transportblock set (TBS). When based on a BER estimate, the desired change iscalculated as the difference between a received BER estimate of a firstitineration and a target BER, multiplied by a step size. The step sizeis set by radio network planning (RNP) and corrected by each entity 24considering the interleaving depth of the respective transport channel.

The OLPC controller 25 receives the changes requested by each OLPCentity 24, and determines which requests are allowed to contribute tothe new target SIR. The new target SIR is then calculated by the OLPCcontroller 25 as the old SIR target plus the sum over all validrequested changes. In the corresponding equation included in the secondellipse 35 in FIG. 3, k is the number of OLPC entities 24 contributingto the new SIR target computation, i.e. the number of all active andsemi-active entities allowed to send a request for a change of the SIRto the OLPC controller 25. The first old SIR target after a RAB setup isthe initial SIR target received from the AC 27.

The new SIR target is then forwarded to BTS (base transceiver station)or node B 21 via one of the OLPC entities 24 as mentioned with referenceFIG. 2.

The desired Eb/No for each transport channel can now be put intorelation to the determined target SIR according to the followingconsiderations.

The node B 21 detects physical channel pilot symbols and estimates theSIR per symbol on the DPCCH in correspondence with the technicalspecification 3GPP TS 25.215 V3.4.0 (2001-06) 3rd Generation PartnershipProject; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Physicallayer—Measurements (FDD) (Release 1999)” as:${SIR}_{DPCCH}^{Est} = {G_{DPCCH}\frac{{RSCP}_{DPCCH}}{ISCP}}$with G_(DPCCH)=W/R_(DPCCH), where R_(DPCCH) is the bit rate of theDPCCH, W the chip rate, RSCP_(DPCCH) is the received signal code poweron the DPCCH, and with ISCP being the uplink interference signal codepower.

Assuming now only one DCH per connection, and considering that thecorresponding CCTrCH is going to be mapped to N DPDCH's (N=1, 2, . . . )the total received code power on the DPDCH's is:N_(eff) ⋅ RSCP_(DPDCH) = Eb_(DCH) ⋅ R_(DCH)^(C) ⋅ N_(eff) ⋅ R_(DPDCH) = Eb_(DCH) ⋅ R_(DCH)^(user)

This equality is a result of the dynamic rate matching. In the equation,R_(DCH) ^(C) is the encoding rate of the DCH and RD_(PDCH) is the bitrate of the DPDCH. RSCP_(DPDCH) is the received signal code power on aDPDCH, R_(DCH) ^(user) is the DCH user bit rate for which the Eb/No isdesired and Eb_(DCH) is the bit energy. N_(eff) is obtained from thenumber of the employed DPDCH's N by:${N_{eff} = {N + \frac{{RSCP}_{DPCCH}}{{RSCP}_{DPDCH}}}},$where RSCP_(DPCCH) and RSCP_(DPDCH) is the received signal code power onthe DPCCH and on one DPDCH, respectively. Using the parameter N_(eff),the Eb/No can comprise the overhead of the DPCCH as well. For Eb/Nomeasurements which relate only to the DPDCHs, RSCP_(DPCCH) can be set to0 so that N_(eff) equals to N.

Based on this observation, and the fact that ISCP=W·No, the SIR estimateby the node B can be reformulated as follows:${SIR}_{DPCCH}^{Est} = {{G_{DPCCH}\frac{{RSCP}_{DPCCH} \cdot {RSCP}_{DPDCH}}{{RSCP}_{DPDCH}{\cdot {ISCP}}}} = {{EbNo}_{DCH}\frac{R_{DCH}^{user}}{N_{eff} \cdot R_{DPDCH}}\frac{{RSCP}_{DPCCH}}{{RSCP}_{DPDCH}}\frac{R_{DPDCH}}{R_{DPCCH}}}}$

This leads to the conclusion that when during the current RRC connectioneither only one DCH is mapped onto the DPDCH, or only a specific bearerservice is active, i.e. all other bearer services are not in uplinktransmission, the actual target SIR in dB reduces to:${SIR}_{Actual}^{{UL},{DPCCH}} = {{EbNo}_{DCH} + {10 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{R_{DCH}^{user}}{N_{eff} \cdot R_{DPDCH}} \right)}} + {{20 \cdot \log}\quad\left( \frac{\beta_{c}^{{TFC}_{Max}}}{\beta_{d}^{{TFC}_{Max}}} \right)} + {{10 \cdot \log}\quad\left( \frac{{SF}_{DPCCH}}{{SF}_{DPDCH}} \right)}}$and$N_{eff} = {{N + \frac{{RSCP}_{DPCCH}}{{RSCP}_{DPDCH}}} = {N + {\left( \frac{\beta_{c}^{{TFC}_{Max}}}{\beta_{d}^{{TFC}_{Max}}} \right)^{2}.}}}$

In the last but one equation, the terms on the right hand side denotefrom left to right the desired Eb/No of the DCH in question, the CodingGain, the Gain Factors Gain, and the SF gain of the radio connectionafter channel coding.

The target SIR, however, can be affected by the semi-active OLPCentities 24 and static rate matching attributes when the associatedinactive DCH is mapped onto the same uplink BPDCH as the selected activeDCH. This is illustrated in FIG. 4 for one active OLPC entity and onesemi-active OLPC entity.

In FIG. 4, a first, upper time line is associated to a selected activeDCH and the corresponding active OLPC entity. This entity has TTIs ofe.g. 80 ms. A second, lower time line is associated to a semi activeentity associated to an inactive DCH. The second entity has TTIs of e.g.10 ms. Both time lines have the length of one complete reporting periodof e.g. 480 ms. The reporting period is a radio network planning (RNP)parameter. At the end of the respective time line, both entities send anactivity report to the OLPC controller 25.

As mentioned above, each active or semi-active entity 24 is allowed tosend each TTI a request for a change of the current SIR to the OLPCcontroller 25. In the presented example, the active entity sends achange request after the first and the second TTI, and the semi activeentity sends a change request after the 5^(th) and the 7^(th) TTI, eachrequest being indicated in the figure as Δ SIR. Thus the target SIR,which is computed by the OLPC controller 25 from all received validrequests, can be affected by the semi active entity and static ratematching attributes when the inactive DCH is mapped onto the same uplinkDPDCH as the active DCH.

Equally, the quality estimates BER and/or BLER can be affected by suchsemi active entities.

Thus, in order to be able to calculate transport channel specificparameter values from determined target SIR or from determined qualityestimates, it has to be known whether the respective SIR or therespective quality estimates are influenced by the presence of othertransport channels. According to the presented embodiment of theinvention, the uplink OLPC controller 25 is informed whether a transportchannel has experienced any traffic or not in a reporting period by acorresponding indication in the activity report, which is sent to theOLPC controller-25 by the OLPC entity 24 associated to the transportchannel each reporting period.

Since the static rate matching does not affect the computation when onlythe wanted bearer service is active, all other bearer services being inDTX, the Eb/No of the transport channel can be estimated for such timesfrom the previous equation as follows:${{EbNo}_{DCH} = {{SIR}_{Actual}^{{UL},{DPCCH}} - {10 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{R_{DCH}^{user}}{N_{eff} \cdot R_{DPDCH}} \right)}} - {20 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{\beta_{c}^{{TFC}_{Max}}}{\beta_{d}^{{TFC}_{Max}}} \right)}} - {10 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{{SF}_{DPCCH}}{{SF}_{DPDCH}} \right)}}}},$which can be reduced to:${EbNo}_{DCH} = {{SIR}_{Actual}^{{UL},{DPCCH}} - {10 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{R_{DCH}^{user}}{N \cdot R_{DPDCH}} \right)}} - {20 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{\beta_{c}^{{TFC}_{Max}}}{\beta_{d}^{{TFC}_{Max}}} \right)}} - {10 \cdot {\log\left( \frac{{SF}_{DPCCH}}{{SF}_{DPDCH}} \right)}}}$if the Eb/No does not comprise the overhead introduced by the DPCCH,i.e. N_(eff)=N.

For solving this equation, it is assumed thatβ_(c)^(TFC_(Max)), β_(d)^(TFC_(Max)),R_(DPDCH) and SF_(DPDCH) are produced by the AC 27 considering all otherbearer services than the currently selected bearer service to be not inuplink transmission (DTX mode) and the maximum bit rate of the transportchannel to be used, which is assumed to be MAX_(DCH){TFS_(DCH)}, TFSbeing the transport format set.

In order to be able to determine for each transport channel a Eb/Novalue and quality parameter values, a set of parameters provided by theAC 27 to the OLPC controller 25 and a set of parameters provided by theOLPC entities 24 to the OLPC controller 25 are defined for the presentedembodiment of the invention.

At the RAB setup, after static rate matching, i.e. Eb/No balancing, theuplink OLPC controller 25 receives from the AC 27 on the one hand radiolink specific parameters and on the other hand DCH specific parameters.

The radio link specific parameters comprise as one parameter a countersupdate period. This parameter is needed for online and/or trace and mustbe set as an integer number of activity reporting periods of the uplinkOLPC entities 24. It can be set in a range of 1 to 1000 reportingperiods, e.g. to 100 reporting periods. A further parameter is the sizeof an EbNo Sliding Window, e.g. 20 reporting periods. This parameter isused for averaged Eb/No computations and should lie equally in a rage of1 to 1000 reporting periods.

The last radio link specific parameter is an online and/or traceparameter, which can be set to ‘Y’ or ‘N’.

DCH specific parameters comprise an enable measurements parameter, whichcan be used to enable the measurements traffic class based. Furthercomprised are a coding gain in dB, a gain factors gain in dB and an SFgain in dB, each gain for the case that only the currently regardedtransport channel is active, i.e. all others are in DTX, and that themaximum bit rate, i.e. MAX_(DCH){TFS_(DCH)}, is used. Another parameteris the traffic class which is defined based on the RAB attributes.Further a quality target for BLER and/or BER is given. Equally, the sizeof a BLER sliding window and/or the size of a BER sliding window areprovided, the BER sliding window however only if turbo coding is used.Both can be set e.g. to 20 in terms of reporting periods. Both can beselected again from a range of 1 to 1000 reporting periods.

During the RRC connection, the measurements are started and stopped bythe Mobile Connection Control (MCC) unit using a separate message, whichallows cell based measurements.

Based on the parameters the OLPC entity 24 receives from the uplink OLPCcontroller 25 when it is set up, it sends an activity report to thecontroller 25 once every reporting period. As already mentioned, thereporting period is one of several RNP parameters that each OLPC entity24 receives during setup by the uplink OLPC controller 25. The reportingperiod ranges from 80 ms up to 2400 ms in steps of 80 ms.

The default value is 480 ms, as in FIG. 4. The activity report comprisesthe sum of the SIR target changes during the DTX-off periods. It furthercomprises the DTX state of the controlled bearer, which can be ‘on’ or‘off’. Moreover, a DTX indicator is provided, which is used to informthe OLPC controller 25 whether the DCH associated to the respective OLPCentity 24 has been active or not during the terminated reporting period.In addition, the number of CRC OK and the number of CRC NOK afterselection and combining during the reporting period are provided in theactivity report. The sum of the QEs, after selection and combining,divided by the number of DCH-FP (Frame Protocol) instances, receivedduring the reporting period, are equally included in the activityreport. Finally, a connection frame number CFN is used as a time stampfor measurement synchronisation.

With the information of the AC 27 and of the OLPC entities 24, theuplink OLPC controller 25 is then able to calculate values for the Eb/Noof a specific transport channel. When DCH_(Active) is the transportchannel associated with the currently active OLPC entity, the uplinkOLPC controller 25 can determine an average Eb/No for this transportchannel as follows:${{{Av}.{EbNo}_{{DCH},{Active}}} = \frac{\sum\limits_{EbNoSlidingWindow}^{\quad}\quad{EbNo}_{{DCH},{Active}}}{EbNoSlidingWindow}},$where${EbNo}_{{DCH},{Active}} = \frac{\sum\limits_{{Re}\quad{portingPeriod}}\quad{10\frac{\begin{matrix}{{SIR}_{Actual}^{{UL},{DPCCH}} - {10\quad{\log\left( \frac{R_{{DCH},{Active}}^{user}}{N_{eff} \cdot R_{DPDCH}^{{DCH},{Active}}} \right)}} -} \\{{20\quad{\log\left( \frac{\beta_{c}^{{TFC}_{{DCH},{Active}}}}{\beta_{d}^{{TFC}_{{DCH},{Active}}}} \right)}} - {10\quad{\log\left( \frac{{SF}_{DPCCH}}{{SF}_{DPDCH}^{{DCH},{Active}}} \right)}}}\end{matrix}}{10}}}{{Re}\quad{portingPeriod}}$and N_(eff) can be equal to N or$N + \left( \frac{\beta_{c}^{{TFC}_{Max}}}{\beta_{d}^{{TFC}_{Max}}} \right)^{2}$if the DPCCH overhead is included in the Eb/No computation, where N asalready above specified is the number of DPDCHs employed in the uplinktransmission.

Further a BLER can be determined for the active transport channelDCH_(Active) by:${{BLER}_{{DCH},{Active}} = \frac{\sum\limits_{BLERSlidingWindow}\quad{BLER}_{{DCH},{Active}}}{BLERSlidingWindow}},$where${BLER}_{{DCH},{Active}} = {\frac{\sum\limits_{ReportingPeriod}\quad{CRC\_ NOK}}{\sum\limits_{ReportingPeriod}\quad\left( {{CRC\_ OK} + {CRC\_ NOK}} \right)}.}$

In addition or alternatively, also a BER can be determined for theactive transport channel DCH_(Active) by:${{BER}_{{DCH},{Active}} = \frac{\sum\limits_{BERSlidingWindow}\quad{BER}_{{DCH},{Active}}}{BERSlidingWindow}},$where${{BER}_{{DCH},{Active}} = \frac{\sum\limits_{ReportingPeriod}\quad{QE}}{NofQEperReprtingPeriod}},$

The BER computation is only possible, however, when turbo coding isused.

Since each activity report includes an information on whether therespective entity 24 has been active during the last reporting period,the OLPC controller 25 is able to reset the quality and Eb/Nocomputations carried out for one entity any time one of the respectiveother entities has experienced traffic within the preceding reportingperiod, i.e. if it has not been in DTX mode over the entire reportingperiod.

Furthermore, the sliding window content for quality computations shallbe reset when the target SIR is changed and thus sent to the WCDMA nodeB 21.

Based on MCC start/stop measurement commands, it is possible to updatethe RRC connection based counters cell by cell and traffic class based,since the MCC is aware of the cell participating in diversity handover(DHO). Furthermore, for each traffic class, i.e. TrCH, within the sameRRC connection, the uplink OLPC controller 25 shall update eachreporting period the following counters, when receiving a StartMeasurements Command form the MCC: the determined average Eb/No inlinear, the determined BLER, the determined BER, the total number of CRCOK, and the total number of CRC NOK.

If the MCC needs OLPC data from a specific radio connection for onlineand/or trace, i.e. if the online and/or trace parameter has been set to‘Y’, the counters are delivered to the MCC together with the actual CFNevery counters update period.

Upon receiving the stop measurements command, the uplink OLPC controller25 sends the collected counters to the MCC and resets the sliding windowcontents. The same actions are taken by the OLPC controller 25 when itreceives the RRC connection release command from the MCC, when therelocation of the serving RNC (SRNC) is executed, or when a handover toanother system or frequency is triggered off. Also if a DCH is releasedand a RAB reconfiguration is carried out, within the current RRCconnection, the counters corresponding to this bearer service are sentto the MCC.

1. Method for determining cell based values varying in time of at leastone parameter of a selected active uplink transport channel multiplexedwith at least one other transport channel to a dedicated physicalchannel, said method comprising in a unit receiving said uplinktransport channels: computing in predetermined periods of time a valuefor said at least one parameter of said selected uplink transportchannel based on the value of at least one available parameterassociated to said dedicated physical channel, the value of which atleast one available parameter is influenced by signals transmitted onall active uplink transport channels multiplexed to said dedicatedphysical channel; determining for said predetermined periods of time foreach of said uplink transport channels whether it is active in therespective period of time; and excluding periods of time for which itwas determined that any other than said selected transport channel wasactive from supplying a valid value for said at least one parameter ofsaid selected active uplink transport channel.
 2. Method according toclaim 1, wherein said at least one parameter of a selected active uplinktransport channel comprises the bit energy per noise interference(Eb/No) of said selected active uplink transport channel.
 3. Methodaccording to claim 2, wherein said at least one available parameterassociated to said dedicated physical channel comprises a targetsignal-to-interference ratio (SIR) which is determined proceeding from apredetermined value and changed according to requirements of each ofsaid uplink transport channels multiplexed to said dedicated physicalchannel.
 4. Method according to claim 1, wherein said at least oneparameter of a selected active uplink transport channel comprises theblock error rate (BLER) of said selected active uplink transportchannel.
 5. Method according to claim 4, wherein said at least oneavailable parameter associated to said dedicated physical channelcomprises a block error rate (BLER) determined for said dedicatedphysical channel to which a plurality of transport channels aremultiplexed.
 6. Method according to claim 1, wherein said at least oneparameter of a selected active uplink transport channel comprises thebit error rate (BER) of said selected active uplink transport channel.7. Method according to claim 6, wherein said at least one availableparameter associated to said dedicated physical channel comprises a biterror rate (BER) determined for said dedicated physical channel to whicha plurality of transport channels are multiplexed.
 8. Method accordingto claim 1, wherein values for said at least one parameter aredetermined for each of said uplink transport channels multiplexed tosaid dedicated physical channel.
 9. Method according to claim 1, whereinsaid values for said at least one parameter of an uplink transportchannels are determined as average values for each period of time. 10.Method according to claim 1, wherein values of said at least oneparameter are determined for several periods of time, which values aresubjected to a sliding average within a predetermined sliding window.11. Method according to claim 1, wherein determined values for said atleast one parameter are stored in a data base
 12. Method according toclaim 1, wherein said dedicated physical channel (DPCH) comprises adedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) and one or more dedicatedphysical data channels (DPDCH), and wherein for multiplexing saidtransport channels to said dedicated physical channel each of saidtransport channels is first multiplexed to a code composite trafficchannel (CCTrCH), said code composite traffic channel then being mappedin one or more of said dedicated physical data channels (DPDCHs) of saiddedicated physical channel.
 13. Method according to claim 1, whereinsaid at least one parameter of a selected active uplink transportchannel is determined in an uplink outer loop power control controller(25) of a radio network controller (RNC) (22), wherein the activity ofeach transport channel mapped onto said dedicated physical channel iscontrolled in a dedicated uplink outer loop power control entity (24) ofsaid RNC (22), and wherein said uplink outer loop power control entities(24) provide for each of said periods of time an indication whether therespective transport channel was active during said period of time tosaid uplink outer loop power control controller (25).
 14. Methodaccording to claim 1, wherein cell based values of said at least oneparameter of respective selected active uplink transport channels aredetermined cell by cell for a selected group of cells in units receivingsaid uplink transport channels, a central unit controlling said cell bycell determination of cell based values and collecting said determinedcell based values.
 15. Network element (22) for a communications networkcomprising means (24,25) for determining according to claim 1, whereinsaid cell based values varying in time of at least one parameter of aselected active uplink transport channel multiplexed with othertransport channels to a dedicated physical channel.
 16. Network element(22) according to claim 15, which network element (22) is a radionetwork controller (RNC) for a universal mobile telecommunication system(UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN), wherein said meanscomprise: an uplink outer loop power control controller (25) fordetermining values varying in time of at least one parameter of aselected active uplink transport channel from available values of atleast one parameter associated to said dedicated physical channel; and adedicated uplink outer loop power control entity (24) for each of saidtransport channels, which outer loop power control entities (24) includemeans for determining whether the respective transport channel is activein predetermined periods of time, and means for providing the uplinkouter loop power control controller (25) in regular periods of time witha report indicating whether the respective data channel was active inthe preceding period of time.
 17. Communications network comprising atleast one network element (22) according to claim
 15. 18. Communicationssystem comprising a communications network with at least one networkelement (22) according to claim 15.